The dangers of being different?
by Scars-Run-Deep
Summary: Sydney Kelleher is confused and unhappy. She wonders why the people in her world can be so harsh and cruel. Instead of being critisied for being different she is exiled for being the same. It's time for her to learn what's worse, being your self and then


**Disclaimer: **No.1. I don't know or own any of the bands in this story except Maxwell Murder. Which I stole the title from rancid so I still kinda don't own it!! He he! And all the characters that you don't recognise or aren't in bands are mine unless otherwise stated. Thank you for your attention and please move on to disclaimer point number Two.

This was the coolest idea for a story that I had ever come up with. Well I think so anyway. So cool in fact that I think that I might actually finish this one. (You never know, stranger things have happened, I think.)

Anyway I decided that I would pick an album of one of my favourite bands and all the chapter tittles would be named after the songs. I chose Rancid's ...And out come the wolves because it has some funky song tittles and I'll really have to think about how I gonna link the tittle into the story.

Well that's enough disclaiming from me!!! I bid thee farewell.

Chapter One: Maxwell Murder 

It was September and I was sitting on the beach feeling sorry for myself. I'd been ditched again, I really couldn't believe it. Okay... well, I'm not that surprised really. I should have known that they would have figured out a reason to get out of it. I stood up, deciding to take a walk along the beach instead of sitting on my ass. I had to figure out what I was doing to do with the rest of the day. It was 9.30 in the morning, it was hot, I had three tickets to a concert I couldn't go to, three hundred dollars in my pocket, and a whole lot of anger to work off. Not exactly and average morning for me since you would never usually have caught me dead up at this time. But this wasn't your average morning.

"Argaaahhhh!"I suddenly let out a frustrated scream, why are these simple things so god damn hard. Okay, think this over, why exactly am I acting like a psycho on a not so deserted beach. Maybe if I understand why exactly I am friends with these people and why I let them do this to me then I can get a handle on the situation.

I'm Sydney Kelleher, nothing special there, I'll be the first to admit that! I'm 18, which is the legal age in Canada. Woo Hoo! (It doesn't matter that I actually live in Washington D.C.) Somehow I managed to get a scholarship to study at Maryland State University (A/N: I don't know if this is an actual school because I pretty much made it up). Everyone including me was amazed when I got the acceptance letter. I thought my life might change after I started at Maryland State, doing what I had always wanted to do, a degree in journalism. I tried really hard not to fall into the same trap that I had in High School, but it's hard to break out of habits, especially bad ones.

Basically I've found myself in a group of friends who aren't who I though they were and now I'm stuck! This sounds stupid and childish even to me but it's the truth, I really backed myself into a corner because of who I become friends with. It's because of them and their reputation that90 of the other people at school won't even talk to me. I know it's my own fault because a lot of the time I just go along with what Jessica says but still some of them are being as judgemental as she is.

On my first day of my new life at Maryland State University, I walked into my tutorial and couldn't help but feeling shy and a bit out my depth. Everyone looked so interesting and happy, and it seemed that a lot of them already knew each other, so they were separating into little groups. I sat at the back of the room next to a guy who was reading a book the size of Justin Timberlake's ego. And a girl wearing a Maxwell Murder shirt. MY favourite band in the world. (A/N: I actually made up this band to fit in with the story so if I put in any songs by them they will probably be really by some other band.)

I was just about to ask her where she got her shirt from as I hadn't seen that on before, when a tall blonde girl came up to me. "You should come and sit with me at the front, that's where all of the really nice and smart people are going to sit! Please my friends aren't here yet?" She then gave a not so favouring glance toward the two people I had chosen to sit next to. I should have realised what she meant but I was so nervous that I just got up and followed her. That was my first mistake, although I didn't realise that until after the tutorial and the girl with the Maxwell Murder shirt glared at Jessica. It only hit me then that Jessica had meant that those two weren't good enough to be friends. Why on earth she chose me to become one of her groupies I will never know?

After a few weeks I really realised what I had gotten myself into, it turns out that Jessica is the biggest bitch to everyone who isn't like her, and even to the people who try to be like her. But by this time I was already labelled as one of her gang and people wouldn't talk to me because of it. The only other person who would talk to me was the boy with the big book. His name was Ralph and people ignored him because he has an IQ of 140 and was only really doing this degree for fun as a part time thing. Everyone seemed to judge him immediately and when he refused to do their homework he was instantly disliked. I liked him though because he could carry off an intelligent conversation which wasn't something I was used to because all Jessica really wanted to talk about was herself, shopping, blah blah and more blah.

Sometimes I didn't really know what Ralph was talking about and he could be a bit boring but overall he was a nice guy and I felt lucky to have him as a friend. Even though I usually only get to talk to him in my journalistic art class as none of my other friends are in it. I laughed to myself realising I sounded even shallower then the rest of them, but it wasn't like that. Ralph understood why I didn't sit with him all the time because he knew that it was hard for me to stand on my own with Jessica there.

Okay I'll admit it!! I have a fear of not having any friends, and of being lonely. I'm finding it hard to admit that to myself and it was even herder to admit it to Ralph. It's only something that I've recently come to terms with. Ralph says I just have to do whatever is going to make me happy. Did I mention that he is really very smart?

Jessica Montgomery. Blonde, ambitious, bitchy and above all rich. Jessica being rich certainly doesn't matter to me but to her it's her most important attribute. It also matters to a lot of other people, it either made them hate her or love her. Well I was apart of her so-called group whether I liked it or not. Firstly there was Todd and Rod. A pair of the most annoying twins on the planet. Stacey who was only there to kiss Jessica's ass and use her for her money. It sounds terrible but I swear it's true.

Then there's Jenna who isn't all that bad really, but she has some serious self-esteem issues (Like I can talk) and was very insecure. I guess she put up with Jessica because she made her feel important. Michael, Jessica's boyfriend, I actually hardly know him because Jessica wont let anyone else of the female persuasion near him except Isabelle. Now Isabelle is the last of our cosy (sure?!) little clique. She is really different to everyone else. Stacey, Jessica and Jenna are really stylish and attractive girls. All of the guys on campus drool over them, it is quite disgusting really. In comparison, Isabelle is well, very plain, She has wishy washy, brown hair, watery blue eyes, she's on the short side and dresses mostly in plain clothes are fairly drab colours. (Although I think the clothes maybe the doing of Jessica and her family) I'm sure if Isabelle just got up some confidence and let her real personality shine through she would be a really beautiful person.

I don't think Jessica feels threatened by Isabella like the rest of us. We all know the reason Jessica doesn't let me near Michael. It's because I'll tell him exactly what I think of him. He is a sleazy, chauvinistic pig and thinks he's god's gift to Wemen. Which I assure you he's not.

Duh!! And I wonder why I'm so fed up with my friends, maybe because I don't actually like any of them. Except Isabelle, I really like her but she is so shy that it is really hard to get to know her. I wondered what she was doing being friends with Jessica until I found out that they were cousins. Their families are quite close and asked Jessica to look after Isabelle since she only just moved to D.C. Pesonally I don't think she needs looking after but that's just my opinion.

Well, I don't know what I'm going to do after this saga. After doing what everyone else wanted to do time and time again, I finally convinced Isabella and Stacey to do something I really, really wanted to do. Maxwell Murder were playing at the Loudmouth the drive festival (A/N: This is actually the name of a festival that is held in my home town in Australia but I thought it was a really cool name so I decided to use it for this.) And I told them if they came with my I would help them with their Media studies assignment for a whole month. I just kept begging and pointing out to Stacey the number of times I backed her up when Jessica was pissed off with her. Eventually she caved in and said she'd go but I didn't even have to beg Isabelle, she said as long as I didn't leave her by herself she would come. She thought it might even be fun to try something new. I couldn't believe I had gotten the both of them to do something that A. didn't involve Jessica and B. That they had no idea what to expect from.

Well I should have known it was too good to be true. As soon as Jessica found out she was furious, she wasn't invited and that made her jealous. Not that she wanted to go anyway, but that was never the point with her. She just didn't want everyone else to go without her, so she did possibly the sneakiest thing she could think of. She organised that party for the same day! I'm sure it was her doing otherwise she wouldn't have had that self-satisfied smile on her face this morning. I got a call at 9.00 this morning from Stacey asking me to come over to Jessica's.

So being the good girl I am I went over to see them. I didn't find it all that strange, as we were going to meet at Stacey's at 9.30 anyway. I should have been suspicious when I walked through to Jessica's room and Jessica had a satisfied grin on her face. But no, I was too happy that I was going to see Maxwell Murder live finally.

Basically Isabelle and Stacey weren't going to the concert any more. They had decided to go to a party with Jessica instead. I was absolutely livid, I hadn't been so mad in a very long time. Of course I started yelling at them, and quite irrationally I might add. "No they're coming with me. I already bought the tickets! YOU CANT DO THIS!!!" Isabelle just shook her head slowly, her sad eyes looking at me, "I have to go. Apparently it's a family thing and they just assumed I would be able to go..." It was useless even trying to appeal to Stacey as she would just do whatever Jessica told her to. I was so fucking angry, I didn't even have any money now because I was going to use some of the money from them paying for their tickets for spending money for the day. After all I had already bought the ticket's at $90 each. "Fine, fine, fine!!! Have it your way, I really don't care! Do whatever you fucking want! You're a bitch Jessica!!" I slumped in a chair, staring at the wall. I had been looking forward to this concert for ages.

Jessica smirked at me, she knew she had won, she went over to her nightstand and picked up a wad of cash. She threw it at me and all she said was, "There's $300! That should cover the price of all three tickets." Then she turned to the other two girls in the room and said pointedly, "WE have to get ready from brunch soon." Then Jessica walked out of the room without another word. I guess I wasn't even invited to the party, so I left just as quickly as I came. I glared at Stacey and gave a disappointed look to Isabelle. I knew it wasn't really her fault but she still didn't even try and stand up for me. And now I'm at the beach wondering what the hell to do. This is ridiculous, I have $300 to spend, a whole day free and three tickets to a concert I can't go to. I am pathetic!

_**Light bulb flicks on above Sydney's head**_

Then it suddenly dawned on me, it was really stupid that it didn't occur to me before. "Ha ha ha!!! Oh Mi God!! I am a jackass!!!" I laughed out loud. How come the simplest options are the ones you think of last. There was absolutely no reason I couldn't go to the show. In fact I would probably have a better time by myself anyway. I wouldn't have to baby sit anyone and... OH... FUCK... I would be able to go into the PIT for Maxwell Murder's set. Argghhh!!! Why didn't I just do this in the first place. In a flash I was all excited and lifted out of my cloud of pity! God I'm Stupid!!!

I looked at my watch it was only 10.30am I still had time to get there and line up by 11am like I had originally planned. The gates didn't open till 11.30 but they always gave out CDs and other freebies to people who were there early. I turned on my heels and started running back down the beach, laughing a little bit insanely which earned some stares form the other early morning beach goers. But for once I didn't care! This was going to be a day of fun. I'm going to do whatever I want and not let anyone else bother me. This was going to be a break from the normal routine of my life. I'll worry about the consequences later.


End file.
